One of the most important keys to success is none other than maintaining your motivation throughout the day. There is no point to have a great plan but don’t have the motivation to carry out the plan. Extraordinary people who achieve great success in life didn’t do it for just one day, they learn to maintain their motivation and do it over the long-term, that’s how success is created. And that’s why motivation is important.
Some people say that motivation is overrated and we should focus on building habits, true, but only to a certain extent. I still believe that motivation is one of the most important factors that determine your success.
Without the drive to do what you’re supposed to get done, there is no way you will even want to perform the habit. Let’s put it this way – to build habits, you need motivation.
And when you don’t have the motivation or when you’re not in the mood, you don’t even want to talk about success or take action, right?
Hence, no matter what people are saying, I believe that motivation is still an important key that determines our success in life.
The problem is that motivation comes and goes.
I bet you have had days when you feel so motivated that you take massive actions and accomplished all the tasks in your to-do list.
And there are also days when you feel totally no motivation at all. You just want to rest and do something else instead of working on your goals.
So, how do you maintain your motivation every day? Well, here are my suggestions…
1. Read every day
Yes, I’m an avid reader. I read every day. I don’t read comics and I seldom read fiction books. Most of my books are non-fiction in the personal development and business categories.
Besides expanding my knowledge and helping me to know more, books also motivate me.
This is especially true when I read about something that I can relate to.
For example, when I don’t have the motivation to blog, reading a book about content marketing or anything related to blogging can inspire and spark my motivation once more.
Recently, I have just read Content Inc., from Joe Pulizzi. It is a great book about content marketing and how to build a successful blog. The book shows me plenty of successful examples and what I can do to make my blog better.
When I’m bombarded with all the possibilities of what I can achieve, it gives me hope. And when I read about someone’s success at blogging, it makes me feel that “If they can do it, so can I!”
This is why I choose to read every day.
Of course, there are times when I don’t feel motivated from reading, but that’s okay because reading has become my habit and I don’t just read for the inspiration, I read for ideas and the knowledge too.
Plus, there are many ways how I maintain my motivation each day. And reading is just one of them.
==> My Recommendation: The Best Personal Development Books to Read
2. Change my environment
Now, besides reading, I also make use of my environment to help me boost my motivation. I believe that for most people when it comes to motivation, they never really take into consideration that the environment plays a vital role.
If you want to feel motivated, work in a place where everyone is busy working. If you want to feel relax, go somewhere quiet and cozy.
For instance, I’m someone who finds it a bit difficult to focus on my work by facing my laptop for long hours. Usually, in the afternoon like 3 or 4 PM, I started to feel difficult to concentrate.
Thus, what I’ll do then is to pick my laptop and work in a café. I ordered a cup of mocha and enjoy working in an open space where there is white noise of people chattering in the background.
When I change my workplace, I change my mood too. That’s how I maintain my motivation throughout the day.
I believe that it is extremely difficult to face the computer screen for long hours. It will make you tired and exhausted. Hence, you need to switch your environment.
If you can only station in your office and your work is not quite as mobile as mine case, try to change your workstation then. Perhaps, you can take your laptop and work in the pantry or use a standing table instead.
The point is to change your environment so that you feel fresh and able to focus better.
==> 10 Tips How to Change Your Environment for Greater Motivation
3. Start with a small task
Another method I keep my motivation during the day is that I always started with a smaller task. I only tell myself that I need to take one small step to progress forward.
If you’re my blog’s reader, you’ll know that I write almost every morning. While I want to publish an article on my blog, I don’t look at it as a big task. Instead, I tell myself that all I need to do is to come up with the article title.
Once I have the article title written, I will then tell myself my next task is to draft and come up with the subheadings of the article.
And then only I focus on the next step, which is to write the opening paragraph.
While it is true that writing a 2,000 words article can be a big task, but I don’t look at it as one big task, instead, I break it down into many smaller tasks like headline, the draft, the opening, the first point, the second point, and so on and so forth.
The same principle can apply to everything that you’re trying to accomplish. No matter what task you want to get done, start small and break down the big task into smaller ones.
When the tasks are small and easy, you will need less motivation to do it. Plus, when a task is easy to do, you will do it with less resistance.
Of course, the key is to build up the momentum so you will have the motivation to progress forward and accomplish more.
In fact, you don’t have to think about it or wait for your motivation to come. Just start. Choose one small task and work on it right away.
After that, you will discover you have built up the momentum and the motivation will just follow.
==> Success Cycle: How to Leverage Small Success to Build Bigger Ones
4. Keep my vision and goals alive
When was the last time you envision the future you want or you review your goals? Most people have dreams and goals, but the majority of them don’t write them down. And if you don’t write what you want to accomplish, how are you going to keep them alive?
If your dreams and goals are exciting enough, every time when you remind yourself or review them, you will feel driven. You will feel motivated because you want to achieve something exciting.
The problem is that most people don’t write down their goals and they don’t review them. They think that goal setting is one-time work and all they do is to think about what they want, and that’s it.
Even if they choose to write it down, they do it for once and that’s it. They don’t review their goals and they don’t have any measurement system to track their progress.
Never let this happen to you. If you want to maintain your motivation, you must constantly keep your vision, dreams, and goals alive.
You must review them every day. For example, you can spend a few minutes every morning to go through your goals list and read them. Envision yourself living the successful life you desire. Update your scoreboard and make plans for the day.
This is how you can maintain your motivation each day.
==> How to Track Your Goals: The 5 Fabulous Ways You Should Consider
5. Build productive habits
Finally, it comes to building productive habits to get things done. Like I said, you need motivation and willpower to build habits too. If you don’t have the drive, how can you maintain a habit for months, right?
So far, I have been able to publish articles every week on this blog. And I’m proud to say that it has become my habit to write almost every day.
When it comes to writing, I’m not sure if it has become my habit, I’ll just write without thinking much about it. Even when I’m not feeling motivated, I’ll write.
Sometimes I’ll end up with a mediocre article. Sometimes after a few minutes into writing, the motivation comes and I’ll write longer and better. But that’s just the way it is.
You just need to get it going. And if possible, make it your habit by maintaining the action every day, at the same time and place.
Try to make it your routine so that you don’t really need that much motivation to carry out the task.
There are 2 activities that have become my daily routine. I’d do them even when no one else is watching or when I don’t have to mood to actually do it – writing and reading.
Reading is easy for me. I just need to pick up a book and read. Whether it is for 15 minutes or for 30 minutes, I will just read every day. It has become something I do each day.
Writing is not always easy, even today, sometimes I will still find it difficult to have ideas to say. But, I don’t question whether I should write or not write, I will just write and publish.
==> What Are Keystone Habits and the 7 Most Common Examples
Conclusion
These are the 5 tips that I used to maintain my motivation ever day. I read, I change my environment, I start small, I review my goals, and I try to develop what I do as a habit.
What about you? How do you maintain your motivation each day?